Flightless budgie?

[JayBudgiz]

I have a budgie who is about 3.5 yrs old. She has lived in an aviary with my other budgies for 3 years now, but she has never flew. She knows how to fly, she flaps and all, but the only direction she goes is forwards and down.
Her wings are fine, and she is 100% healthy. The aviary is full of little wooden ladders to help her, and most of the perches are close enough for her to jump to. The branches not so close together, she scales the bricks or uses the ladders.
If it is raining, I put her in a cage with a couple others, just incase she falls during the night and lands in a big puddle. Plus she hates when its raining, even though the aviary is a third undercover with a long perch where she usually sleeps.
I'm not really concerned about her as she has been fine for the past 3 yrs, but if anyone has suggestions they will be appreciated.

This is her (Pickle) a couple of years back. (Her cere looks like of a male, thats why I called her Pickle, but her cere changed later)

 

[AussieBird]

@Ripshod

 

[Ripshod]

If her cere has turned a rich blue then Pickle is male.
There can be many reasons why Pickle's not flying. It could be down to an injury when (s)he was younger. Was (s)he clipped when you got her/him? With the lack of flying his/her muscles will be terribly out of condition so it's hard to make good headway. Flight=strength=flight. Catch 22.

 

[Birdbabe]

@Lady Jane ?

 

[scrape]

My budgie Mark is exactly like your Pickle. He was hit by a ceiling fan on the head when he was young (previous owner) and has never been the same. He cannot gain altitude. I have been doing some strength flight training exercise, and he has made progress, particularly with his landing and aim, but I am unsure he will ever "fly" again. He has been a bit bullied by the other budgie, because of it, so keep a close eye just in case.

 

[Lady Jane]

She looks adorable and sweet. Can you now make her an indoor bird? No matter what the reason for no flying ability i think her safety and comfort are a primary concern. If you can pair her with another budgie do you think she would adapt to this change?

 

[JayBudgiz]

If her cere has turned a rich blue then Pickle is male.
There can be many reasons why Pickle's not flying. It could be down to an injury when (s)he was younger. Was (s)he clipped when you got her/him? With the lack of flying his/her muscles will be terribly out of condition so it's hard to make good headway. Flight=strength=flight. Catch 22.

She wasn't clipped when she was younger, and even before me she lived in a breeders aviary.

My budgie Mark is exactly like your Pickle. He was hit by a ceiling fan on the head when he was young (previous owner) and has never been the same. He cannot gain altitude. I have been doing some strength flight training exercise, and he has made progress, particularly with his landing and aim, but I am unsure he will ever "fly" again. He has been a bit bullied by the other budgie, because of it, so keep a close eye just in case.

Sorry to hear about the incident with the previous owner. There was no incident with Pickle. I've done strength training exercise since I've gotten her, and its helped enough for her to fly forwards abit instead of just downwards. What training did you do with yours to help with landing? The other budgies don't bully her, which I'm very happy about

She looks adorable and sweet. Can you now make her an indoor bird? No matter what the reason for no flying ability i think her safety and comfort are a primary concern. If you can pair her with another budgie do you think she would adapt to this change?

I've tried keeping her in a cage before with another budgie, but she hated it. She gets upset when she isn't with all the others and will dig into the food dish until the food is everywhere. Even when I keep her in a cage sometimes at night she gets upset, so keeping her in the cage isn't an option unfortunately.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[Lady Jane]

Well then can the aviary be made more safe for her disabilities?
@Destiny

 

[scrape]

Sorry to hear about the incident with the previous owner. There was no incident with Pickle. I've done strength training exercise since I've gotten her, and its helped enough for her to fly forwards abit instead of just downwards. What training did you do with yours to help with landing? The other budgies don't bully her, which I'm very happy about

She could've fallen when she was younger and landed badly, unnoticeable. But hopefully she is just lacking strength and stamina.

I place Mark on a stand, low close the the floor. And I offer my hand with millet horizontal to him. We've slowly gotten farther and a tiny bit higher. He is getting better flying forward like your budgie, but he can't get any lift.

I don't know if your budgie does this, but Mark almost jumps up and off the perch, whereas Parker (my fully capable flighted budge) just leans forward and takes off if that makes sense. No very important but an interesting note. And do you notice her "flying" differently? I notice Mark "flies" differently than Parker.

We also do wing exercises where I hold him on a finger or thin branch and drop it down fast so he has to flap to hold on. He used to not be able to do this, he would just fall off, but exercise and natural perches have helped him.
He has some other symptoms, but that's a separate thing.

 

[JayBudgiz]

@scrape
I've done the wing exercise of lowering perch so she has to flap, but I haven't really focused on that first exercise you mentioned. I did start that when I first got her, but then the perch I was using for it broke and I just forgot about it all after a while.
Thankyou!!